Lions’ Makita tosses eight-hit shutout

TOKOROZAWA, SAITAMA PREF. – Kazuhisa Makita, the Seibu’s submarine right-hander, scattered eight hits over the distance for his first shutout of the season as the Pacific League-leading Lions beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 8-0 on Tuesday night.

The Lions took the lead on a fourth-inning sacrifice fly by Esteban German. Ginjiro Sumitani scored for Seibu in the fifth after a leadoff single, a wild pitch and back-to-back groundouts. Marines pitchers issued five walks in the eighth as the Lions put the game away.

Makita (3-0), who was the closer for Japan in the recent World Baseball Classic, walked one batter, hit another and did not strike anyone out in a 125-pitch effort. Marines right-hander Yuji Nishino (2-1) worked seven innings, allowing six hits and a walk while striking out three in suffering the first loss of his career.

“My form wasn’t very good tonight, but somehow I was able to hang on,” said Makita. “I made some adjustments and was able to pitch. Lotte’s batters were swinging early in the counts so I thought I could get them to hit my pitches.”

Hawks 3, Fighters 2

At Fukuoka’s Yahoo Dome, former National League All-Star Bryan LaHair overturned a two-run deficit with his sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot in the bottom of the first off Kazuhito Tadano (0-2) as Fukuoka Softbank defeated Hokkaido Nippon Ham.

The visitors took the lead in the top of the first off Hawks starter Kenji Otonari (1-2) on a run-scoring double by Sho Nakata. Masaya Ozaki, in his 11th year as a pro, made it 2-0 when he drove in his first career run with a single before the home team’s rally.

Eagles 9, Buffaloes 3

At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Tohoku Rakuten came from two runs down to tie it on a fourth-inning solo homer by Casey McGehee and a fifth-inning RBI single by Motohiro Shima. Teppei Tsuchiya put the visitors in front with an RBI single in the seventh that plated the first run in a five-run inning against Orix.

Eagles ace Masahiro Tanaka (3-0) allowed three runs on eight hits and walked three in a 133-pitch effort. The right-hander struck out six.

The Buffaloes’ five pitchers allowed a total of nine walks.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Swallows 3, Carp 1

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Wladimir Balentien broke a 1-1 tie with a two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning as Tokyo Yakult snapped a five-game losing streak in a game that saw both benches empty in the top of the inning.